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Corruption- Home and Abroad
„Corruption = authority + monopoly-transparency“ Introduction: Corruption is a phenomenon which may be seen in any country of the world. It is a tremendous problem in today's society and can be found everywhere from the Government to McDonalds in every part of the world. It is an act of bribery, a misuse of public positions or power for gaining personal gratification and fulfilling selfish motives. There are different types of corruption such as political corruption, police corruption, economic corruption, data corruption, etc. It also takes different forms like bribery or extortion. All these different types or forms of corruption have one thing in common -the misuse of power for personal benefit. It is not just a malady of modern age, it is visible throughout history.It was very common in the 15th century in France or the Roman Empire as well as the ancient civilizations of Egypt. England was described as a “sink-hole“ of corruption in the 17th century and as the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty in the 19th century. During the British Rule, bribes were accepted not only by Indian officials but even by the highly placed British officials. Corruption Perceptions Index Since 1995,Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". The organization defines corruptionas "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. A higher score means less (perceived) corruption. This table shows that the countries Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are least corrupted out of 133 countries around the world. UK is on place 20, and the most corrupted countries in the World are Somalia, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq ... You can the World Map Index of perception of corruption 2010 here. Draft Bribery Bill A DRAFT BRIBERY BILL '''is a reformation to the United Kingdom's corruption and bribery laws which have been a source of criticism at home and abroad for more than thirty years. It aims to define what really amounts to bribery and what not, beacuse this issue has been a problem in the old laws against corruption. In relation to this, the bribery bill consists of 5 principal offences which can be commited by a British citizen, an individual ordinarily resident in the UK, or a body incorporated under the law of any part of the UK, even if the function or activity, to which the bribe relates has no connection with the UK and is carried out in a foreign country. These principles are: #Bribing another person #Receiving a bribe #Bribery of foreign public officials #Failure of commercial organisations to prevent corruption #Personal liability of senior officers Through this bribery bill which will come into force in April, there will be an increase in investigations on corruption. '''Foreign corruption by UK companies: Over the years, there have been multiple allegations of foreign bribery involving UK companies in the press. Facts about cases and issues in the investigative process in the UK have been revealed by the press. One major affair was the corruption case of BAE Systems. BAE Systems is a british defence, security and aerospace company which is registered in England and Wales and is active on the markets in Australia, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Uk and the US. SFO (serious Fraud office) made several investigations on this company because BAE Systems set up unonymous companies to make payments to polititians around the world, in order to win arm contracts. BAE got away with a huge case of corruption where 100 000 000 pounds were paid every year to an official from a foreign country who bought military equippment for 44 bil. pounds from them. SFO has tried to prosecute BAE. In February 2010, Bae pleaded guilty and agreed to pay 285 mil. pounds to make an end to the SFO Investigations. SInce Britain's new bribery act was established, SFO investigators will not tolerate any bribery acts from companies to other foreign governments.